• Limitless_screaming
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    21 year ago

    If you have two charges q1 and q2, you can get the force between them F by multiplying them with the coulomb constant K (approximately 9 × 10^9) and then dividing that by the distance between them squared r^2.

    q1 and q2 cannot be negative. Sometimes you’ll not be given a charge, and instead the problem will tell you that you have a proton or electron, both of them have the same charge (1.6 × 10^-19 C), but electrons have a negative charge.

    • pewter
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      51 year ago

      q1 and q2 can be negative. The force is the same as if they were positive because -1 x -1 = 1

      • Limitless_screaming
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        11 year ago

        In this case yes, but if q1 was -20μC, q2 was 30μC, and r was 0.5m, then using -20μC as it is would make F equal to -21.6N which is just 21.6N of attraction force between the two charges.

        • Pelicanen
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          21 year ago

          If they are oppositely charged particles, I would expect that there is a force of attraction acting on them, yes.